Abstract:
Seventy-seven of lipase-producing halophilic bacteria from fermented shrimp pastes collected from Mahachai market, Samut Sakhon province were isolated. The strians were screened for their lipolytic activity using agar plates supplemented with Tween 20, 40, 60, 80 or tributyrin as substrates. Sixty-one strians showed lipase activity on agar plates while twenty-three strians showed lipase activity in broth when determined using p-Nitrophenyl butyrate (p-NPB) as substrate. Twelve strians that have activity and twenty-six strians that have no activity were selected as representatives for the identification. On the basis of phenotypic characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequences, thirty-two strians were belonged to 9 genera including Oceanobacillus (2 strians), Virgibacillus (2 strians), Halobacillus (2 strians), Thalassobacillus (2 strians), Bacillus (5 strians), Staphylococcus (9 strians), Salinicoccus (12 strians), Nesterenkonia (2 strians) and Allobacillus (2 strians). The 16S rRNA gene sequences analysis indicated that strains SKP4-8 and SKP8-2 were closely related to Allobacillus halotolerans B3AT 99.14 and 98.80%, respectively, and they exhibited 46.6 and 56.8 % DNA-DNA relatedness, respectively with Allobacillus halotolerans B3AT. Based on polyphasic taxonomic study, Allobacillus sp., strains SKP4-8 and SKP8-2 were belonged to the novel species. They will be proposed as a new moderately halophilic species, namely Allobacillus saliphilus. Strain SKP5-4 identified as Virgibacillus halodenitrificans was selected for lipase production and it could produce the maximum lipase at stationary phase in modified JCM no. 377 at 5% concentration, pH 8.0, 37 °C and 30 hours. The lipase of SKP5-4 was purified by cold acetone precipitation and anion exchange chromatography with 11.6-fold purification. The purified lipase was the protein with molecular mass of about 50, 43, 30 and 12 kDa.The enzyme had a maximal activity in the present pH 7.0, 2% of NaCl and at 40 °C. The enzyme exhibited specific activity especially with p-nitrophenyl butyrate (C4:0).